England 2015: Day 2--Pencarrow House & Gardens in Cornwall

Day 1 of my week's birthday trip to England was a breeze because, well...it was a short day.  I told you each consecutive day would be longer.  But at this pace, I may just finish the trip before g'son Nicholas arrives on July 17th!

So, moving right along....

Lisl and I got up bright and early on Tuesday, 16 June, to take the train from Westbury Station, Wiltshire, to Cornwall, where we would spend two nights with Pauline, a long-time friend of Lisl's and another Shutterchancer.

How many times have I told you I love the trains of Europe!

And the longer the ride the better.  This one was 3.5 hours,

with enough time to have a bacon-buttie elevenses.

See how close we came to the coast?

There were spots when we were right at the water.

In fact, last year the heavy rains actually covered the tracks!

I especially felt lucky to get the Pegasus vane in focus passing by!

By the time we got to St. Austell, we both had taken photos and enjoyed the sun.

Pauline met us in St. Austell and drove us to her home nearby where we got settled for our stay.

Back at the end of her yard near the shed are her gorgeous chickens.

You'd swear they were her children by how much she loves them.  Seriously.

And guess what!  I never once heard them crowing the two nights/mornings I was there.

 Here's a sampling of the scads of flowers all over Pauline's yard,

preparing me for what was yet to come.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

We spent the afternoon at the Pencarrow House and Gardens in Bodmin, 30 minutes away.

 We weren't there to visit the house but to walk the land and see the gardens.

From the house there's a one-mile walk down the carriage drive to the iron age hillfort.

The closer we got, the trees whispered to us and drew us in.

By the time we got to the hillfort, we luxuriated in the strong energy of the area.

The banks and ditches aren't archeologically excavated but go back to the 3rd-1st centuries BC.

The ladies knew I wanted "old" and old I got!

And while walking along, I also got flowers!

These weren't in gardens, mind you.  They mostly just lined the road,

both coming and going back to the house and the Peacock Café.

It was time for an English afternoon tea when we got back to the house,

but what I didn't know was that the ladies had planned a proper Cornish CREAM  tea for me,

with candles, no less, for my 70th birthday.  I'm actually welled up with tears in that above photo.

A cream tea, in case you're clueless (as I was), is tea with scones smothered in clotted cream and jam!

And that's where we saw the peacock and hen, strutting their stuff.

After tea, we headed off to the small lake on the other side of the house, 

passing the largest Cornish cross of its type, found in a hedge at Trescowe ca. 1870.

Cows were off in the fields along the way, caught by my 1200mm lens, thankfully.

 But it was the wee lake, covered with lily pads, that became a long resting place for us.

All 3 of us walked around, sat, and absorbed Mother Nature.

Even the flowers there seemed different.

We didn't see any foxes but the weathervane of the Pencarrow house was a treat,

in shadow and in sun.

What a way to start a 3-day stay in Cornwall!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I can't leave this post without a shout-out to the SCOTUS decision yesterday,

ruling that Marriage Equality is now the rule of the land nationwide in the USA.

I'll never forget the date:  26 June 2015.

My mom would have turned 99 were she still alive.

And it's still my birth month, celebrating my 70th birthday.

It happened in my lifetime, Folks!

The Open-Air Museum in Arnhem, NL

After 4+ years here in Dutchland, I found out there is an annual Museum Card that gets you into almost all Dutch museums for free, at the cost of only €55/card.  Astrid and I found this out from our friends in Giessenburg.  It's good for an entire year from when you buy it!

I guess you could say it was a no-brainer for us, after all our disclaimers about NOT liking museums but visiting churches instead.  Bottom line:  we didn't like the price we had to pay to get into the museums. But now that we have a year to see as many as possible on our €55, watch out.  Here we come.

We started with one of the best possible ones:  the Openluchtmuseum (Open-Air Museum) in Arnhem.  Fasten your seatbelts!

 Like all good open-air museums, there were lots of "period" reenactments.

But you know me.  It was the architecture that grabbed me.

And the windmills, of course...all 5 of them.

It was hard to miss the wooden shoes everywhere we went.

 And while walking from one place to the next, friendly faces greeted us.

Or not.  I think there was a pecking order.

Remember the elusive, rascally heron we're always trying to capture?

This one was so still while fishing 6 feet away from us, I was sure it was a taxidermist's joke.

It must be tame from so many tourists day in and out.  It hardly feels fair to show him!

It was a gorgeous spring day that April 11th.  What can I say!

Sometimes it helps to know from where you've come, right?  And from how far.

I could live like that, couldn't you?

How 'bout a nice cup of koffie or tea!

And for those of you so interested, you'd fit right in.

Men and women alike, of course.  No stereotyping here.

The Dutch are big on boat-building and fishing, as you'd assume.

And don't forget the cheese!

Their train/tram system is to die for.

(America could learn a thing or two from the Dutch in this regard!)

I guess shipping/transport is as old as the hills in all countries?

But not drawbridges, which still fascinate me to no end.

Astrid grew up with them her entire life and says she's STILL fascinated by them.

How fun that they even have a functional little typical, old-fashioned town with green houses/stores.

This color of green paint is very Dutch!

In fact, that's where we had our koffie break, at a little café.

While sitting there, we watching all the kids having fun with the old-timey toys.  

It didn't take much to convince Astrid that she, too, is a little kid at heart.
Have you ever ridden a penny-farthing?  Neither have I.

Shortly after we got to the Reformed Church, both of my batteries were dead.
(I'm still figuring out how long they last and when to re-charge them.)
In other words, we saw more, some of which Astrid captured, but you get the picture.

As I always say, impressions, impressions, impressions.
We walked for 5 hours and dropped.  Next time we'll try taking the free tram ride!

I'll drink to that (their own home-brewed beer)!

Do I need to say we HIGHLY RECOMMEND this museum, if you're ever in the area.
And it's only 50 miles from where we live in Gorinchem.
We might just have to go back while we still have our museum cards!

Us vs. Them

I know, I know.  The Easter weekend came and went with nary a peep out of me.  BUT...I was definitely thinking about all of it.

In fact, this was my image on my photoblog on Black Good Friday:

For me, this is sooooo Roman Catholic.  For you, too?

I grew up in a Protestant church where our crosses were always empty.

And that got me thinking...which turned into my post today at Vision and Verb.

In fact, I had planned all along to use the above image for it

but changed yesterday, at the last minute, to this one:

 Which image would YOU have chosen for a post on us vs. them, I wonder!

Well, you can decide here, if you want to take a read.....

Warning:  it's about religion, sex and politics, none of which we're supposed to talk about, right?!

Settling Into the New Year

Yes, I DID go to The Farm in Michigan, and yes, I DID come back safe-n-sound (in spite of a breath-stopping spin-around on the ice going back to the airport this past Sunday)! How long ago was that?!

There was no snow on the ground when I landed in Detroit on December 30, but by the next day there was. So I was a happy camper. The wind-chill factor, however, was so strong every day that I only went outside once (except for two nights in the hot tub, one with the snow falling on our heads).

What I captured with the camera was little and wasn't in the cold outside but in the cold inside the barn.

Don't ask me why I was so fascinated with these kerosene lanterns. I had to use one years ago as my source of light while in Jungle Camp in Mexico. Maybe that's why. Maybe they have a story waiting to be told...like so many of us do.

Actually, that door latch and handle also intrigued me. Another story, for sure. But I wasn't even curious enough to find out what was inside. That's kinda like not asking questions to pull out the stories inside each other, I guess.


I did visit the coop and chatted up a storm with the best of them. They tickle me to death! Inside the house with sister Ruth, Don and Peter, we, too, chatted up a storm, but other times we nested and brooded, reflecting on the moment.

Sister Ruth did a post on the board game we played almost non-stop, morning, noon and night: The Settlers of Catan. I'm not what you'd call a board game lady BUT this game sure is addicting. I think I became a Settler of Catan overnight!

Now that I'm back home...and Donica is in Amsterdam...I'm working on our basement, trying to unclutter and clean it. Did 2008 really come and go just like that? Has 2009 already seen a week pass by? Will I really have to take down the Christmas tree eventually?

So many questions, so little time. That's like looking at the syllabus on the first day of class and being overwhelmed by everything that has to be done by the end of the semester. Remind me that it's doesn't all have to be done TODAY. Settle down, Ginnie. The year has just begun!